Hi-Rez Studios announcesAccelerate, which is the name of the June update for Tribes: Ascend, saying this will come to the multiplayer shooter. This trailer introduces the update, which takes its name for how it accelerates the player's progress in unlocking new weapons and other perks in the game. Speaking of which, the update also will include 27 new weapon variants and what they are calling "the most comprehensive set of balance changes to date" This is all followed by this trailer announcing Tribes Paper Kraft, some sort of wacky offline riff on the game, promising this offers the chance to win prizes, "and, uh, eSports?"

Flatline wrote on Jun 12, 2012, 05:19:Pretty much. The Chaingun was pretty good at other things, like killing soft targets (solar panels and generators and inventory stations) while saving ammo. Inside the base they were pretty useful too.

One thing I noticed is missing, and I mean *really* missing from T:A are the unbelievably good snipers. When I first discovered Tribes, a friend and I would set up at opposite sides of the map and coordinate incoming enemies. Two *really* good snipers could lock down an entire map without a coordinated offense, headshotting the lights, two-shotting the mediums, and I think 3 or 4 shotting the heavies.

I moved on to other things in my Tribes days but I never forgot the frustration of having a laser bolt come out of the blue and fry my ass.

Range/damage drop offs for snipers changed that. On small maps snipers are now necessary to counter cappers with accel packs. The volume of space is really high compared to T1 so making shots is a lot harder too.

That's a crap mechanic, I'd rather they leverage the engine some more and make the terrain harder to negotiate- sunstar shoule be a lot rockier and crossfire should cover the surrounding hills with obstacles.

Jerykk wrote on Jun 12, 2012, 01:41:I'm not sure how much Tribes you played if you thought the chaingun was just a puny finishing weapon. Practically every chaser in T1 relied on the CG for chasing. Really skilled players could mow down opponents at any range. I'm basing this on a few years of experience playing T1 Base competitively on the OGL and TWL ladders. I didn't play any of the mods like Shifter.

As for the rapid-fire weapons in T:A, I guess you do have to lead a bit if the target is far away. Not as much as in T1, though.

Pretty much. The Chaingun was pretty good at other things, like killing soft targets (solar panels and generators and inventory stations) while saving ammo. Inside the base they were pretty useful too.

One thing I noticed is missing, and I mean *really* missing from T:A are the unbelievably good snipers. When I first discovered Tribes, a friend and I would set up at opposite sides of the map and coordinate incoming enemies. Two *really* good snipers could lock down an entire map without a coordinated offense, headshotting the lights, two-shotting the mediums, and I think 3 or 4 shotting the heavies.

I moved on to other things in my Tribes days but I never forgot the frustration of having a laser bolt come out of the blue and fry my ass.

Original Tribes' chaingun was mostly a throwaway/finishing weapon. Majority of the game revolved around projectiles you could actually SEE travel, and thus evade, and that's part of what made it special.

I wouldn't go that far. The chaingun in T1 just required more skill to be effective. You needed to fire in rapid but short bursts and lead your aim. Conversely, in T:A, you just hold down the trigger and keep your reticule on the target.

Another thing they can do is reduce the damage of the rapid-fire projectiles over distance. This would make them considerably less effective at long range.

I didn't go "far" or anywhere for that matter, I just stated what I observed through a long history of playing Tribes and Tribes:ShifterX. Chaingun was a puny, finishing weapon during overwhelming majority of the time - nothing more.

Your other claim is also inaccurate. If you keep your reticle on the target in T:A, you will miss. Unless you use a hitscan weapon, which the Falcon may or may not be (another candidate for OP bullshit upgrade).

I'm not sure how much Tribes you played if you thought the chaingun was just a puny finishing weapon. Practically every chaser in T1 relied on the CG for chasing. Really skilled players could mow down opponents at any range. I'm basing this on a few years of experience playing T1 Base competitively on the OGL and TWL ladders. I didn't play any of the mods like Shifter.

Original Tribes' chaingun was mostly a throwaway/finishing weapon. Majority of the game revolved around projectiles you could actually SEE travel, and thus evade, and that's part of what made it special.

I wouldn't go that far. The chaingun in T1 just required more skill to be effective. You needed to fire in rapid but short bursts and lead your aim. Conversely, in T:A, you just hold down the trigger and keep your reticule on the target.

Another thing they can do is reduce the damage of the rapid-fire projectiles over distance. This would make them considerably less effective at long range.

I didn't go "far" or anywhere for that matter, I just stated what I observed through a long history of playing Tribes and Tribes:ShifterX. Chaingun was a puny, finishing weapon during overwhelming majority of the time - nothing more.

Your other claim is also inaccurate. If you keep your reticle on the target in T:A, you will miss. Unless you use a hitscan weapon, which the Falcon may or may not be (another candidate for OP bullshit upgrade).

Original Tribes' chaingun was mostly a throwaway/finishing weapon. Majority of the game revolved around projectiles you could actually SEE travel, and thus evade, and that's part of what made it special.

I wouldn't go that far. The chaingun in T1 just required more skill to be effective. You needed to fire in rapid but short bursts and lead your aim. Conversely, in T:A, you just hold down the trigger and keep your reticule on the target.

Another thing they can do is reduce the damage of the rapid-fire projectiles over distance. This would make them considerably less effective at long range.

Jerykk wrote on Jun 11, 2012, 21:07:Anyone have a link to the actual changelist?

That aside, I agree that the rapid-fire weapons need to have less accuracy. In the previous games, the longer you fired, the less accurate the chaingun became. T:A definitely needs that for all rapid-fire weapons. Also, plasma projectiles need to be slower.

Either a little slower or like 75% as large as they are now. It's crazy sauce to get as many mid-air hits/kills as I do with the plasma cannon.

Still, kudos to the new unlock system. While most of my kits are maxed out now, as I unlock/play new classes it'll help a lot.

Indeed as a person with <50ms ping I take the chainguns for granted, but they obviously weigh the game toward the likes of me. Heavily.

Original Tribes' chaingun was mostly a throwaway/finishing weapon. Majority of the game revolved around projectiles you could actually SEE travel, and thus evade, and that's part of what made it special.

That aside, I agree that the rapid-fire weapons need to have less accuracy. In the previous games, the longer you fired, the less accurate the chaingun became. T:A definitely needs that for all rapid-fire weapons. Also, plasma projectiles need to be slower.

Been hearing that this nerfs the hell out of the bullet weapons, which I would be super happy for. I've seen more people using the Falcon recently, and it's capable of taking you down within the time that it takes to fire two discs. A heavy might get three off.

I'd be happy if they just cut the bloody things out altogether, but at the very least they need to weaken them, increase the inertia inheritance, and slow the projectiles down. They're the only guns (excepting the rifle) that you can just point directly at the enemy and shoot without even taking inertia or travel time into account.

Edit: More spread too. Techs can eat my health from halfway across the map, when they're barely inside mortar range. There's no way to react to that, it's obnoxious.

And of course the plasma is almost as bad for speed, and worse for damage/splash...

Kinda pisses me off after they give us that XP boost weekend that they add this change. Spent a lot of XP on upgrading weapons when I could have been using it to unlock new stuff and get upgrades through use.

With this however many weapon additions, they better start offering some actual daily deals. 30% off on a pistol Im never going to use or some crap grenade is very irritating. Having the gold and never getting a deal on anything you want is aggravating, if it ain't 50% off it's not a deal. 780 gold for a primary is basically 5+ dollars for a weapon, nothing micro transaction about that when you consider how many weapons they are going to have.

50 Bucks for a game versus 150-200 bucks for unlocks and what not is kinda nuts considering they just keep adding.

People fail to realize that a good majority of balancing occurs within the player circle via posts and usage statistics.

I personally am not in the 'everything must be balanced' corner. Glaring imbalances do need addressed - and are. But in a FPS where everyone can use anything that anyone else does - its simply not a huge deal if it happens when new things are introduced.

The more weapons and items they introduce, the harder it will be to keep them all balanced. That's one of the downsides of the F2P model; you have to continually release new content in order to generate revenue, but every piece of new content usually unbalances the game.

If they don't nerv the Jackal and all the different Plasma gun variations there will be hell to play!Seriously, it's like they have absolutely no idea about how to properly balanced new guns. Not surprising that all the aforementioned weapons are banned from competitive play.

space captain wrote on Jun 11, 2012, 16:45:man i saw this coming light years away

Sure, it will bring in more $$$. It also rolls back the pay-to-win aspect of the game so I'm all for it. This is coming from someone who paid $30.00 back in April.

I got to watch people learn how to play Tribes while kicking their asses for a few weeks so I enjoyed being an early adopter.

They still need siege mode. And +1 for bringing back better frame rates. I dialed down my detail in the second week of May and was back to kicking ass against a much better players base- now it's a little more hap-hazard.